The FreedomTruespeed Group (FTG), which reflects the recent merger between alternative broadband networks Freedom Fibre and Truespeed (here), has today announced that customers of Truespeed’s retail ISP can now order broadband packages over FF’s original full fibre (FTTP) network in the North West and Midlands of England.

Just to recap. The current group is the product of several prior network mergers. The combined alternative Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network of both operators is said to cover a total footprint of 419,000 UK premises (RFS) across the North West, West Midlands, South West and East of England, while connecting over 73,000 customers. But until now the two networks haven’t yet been physically integrated together for Truespeed’s retail customers to access (network integration is a long and complex process).

NOTE: The FreedomTruespeed Group is backed by investment partners Aviva Investors, InfraBridge, and Equitix. The merger saw Freedom Fibre continue as the group’s wholesale network, working with its established partners, while Truespeed and LilaConnect remain as customer-facing retail ISP brands.

Over the past few months the newly created group has been busy working to integrate their systems, processes and teams, which also included a customer migration onto one system stack. The good news is that this phase of the integration has largely completed, so they’ve now moved on to tackle the physical network.

As such today’s news extends Truespeed’s customer propositions into Freedom Fibre’s wholesale network in the North West and West Midlands regions for the first time (i.e. customers can now order broadband packages in part of Freedom Fibre’s network area), which “marks completion of the first phase of integration with Freedom Fibre, delivered just three months after the merger closed in May“.

Nathan Vautier, CEO of Freedom Truespeed Group, said:

“Three months ago, we set out to prove that Freedom Truespeed Group could quickly bring two complementary businesses together while maintaining trading momentum, delivering efficiencies and realising commercial benefit by opening the combined network footprint with cross-brand access. Today’s launch is the first tangible milestone in that plan, delivered on schedule and to the standard of disciplined execution our customers, partners and investors expect as we continue to scale.”

Further Retail, Wholesale and Network integration milestones are expected to follow in phases over the coming months. Prices typically start at £20 per month for speeds of 150Mbps on an 18-month term and rise to £29 for 900Mbps.

Freedom Fibre continues to operate its wholesale network platform in partnership with providers including PXC, Zen Internet and a range of retail ISPs alongside in-house FTG retail brands, Truespeed and LilaConnect.